52 Weeks (NOW COMPLETED! WOOHOO!)

[MikeFlorendo]

Love the silhouette and shadow on week 13 By moonlight. I love night photography and surf photography but it's funny they are polar opposites.

 

[Austin Greene]

For Week 15 a simple but beautiful sunset at our research field site near Geoje South Korea caught my attention.


About 2 hours away from Busan, Geoje is a large island off of the southern end of South Korea. In fact, most of the southern region is made up of entirely islands, hundreds and hundreds of them. Our field site sits in a tidal zone, amidst the oyster cultures from a fishing village nearby.

Hope you like it! I look a panoramic, but am still working on stitching it. What with all the water the typical stitching programs are having issues. I wish I had a tripod here, mine was too heavy and bulky to bring on the plane, so for the time being I can't use any of the ND filters I brought along or do long exposures.

Week 15 of 52: Geoje Sunset

52 Weeks: Geoje Sunset (Week 15 of 52) by TogaLive, on Flickr

 

[xFireSoul]

Amazing photographies, man!
Good luck with your jorney and can't wait to see more of 'em!

 

[Austin Greene]

For week 16 of my 52 Weeks photo project, I visited South Korea's largest fish market, the sprawling Jagalchi Market.


Fish littered the vendor-lined streets. All you can hear is people shouting and trying to entice buyers, either to buy the whole fish set out on display, or to step behind the stalls into the small storage spaces that serve as makeshift restaurants during busy days. Everyone was looking to sell, and most everyone else was looking to buy, that is, except me. I just wanted to take photos.


One thing that hit me hard, especially as an ecologist and diver, was the impact this place and the many others like it must have on the environment. Live fish. Dead fish. Fish everywhere. They all came from the sea, and none would ever return. The sheer volume was astounding. I decided I wanted to take a photo demonstrating not only this, but also how I felt out it all, how I (on a personal level) couldn't help but view it as somewhat wasteful, damaging. I found what I wanted in a waste bucket. Taking a quick frame, I pulled away from the viewfinder to find the "janitor" looking at me. He let out a chuckle at the silly American interested in trash, emptied the bucket, and wandered off.

For more photos from Jagalchi, check out this other thread.

Week 16 of 52: Waste


52 Weeks: Waste (Week 16 of 52) by TogaLive, on Flickr

 

[Austin Greene]

Week 17 of 52: Poise

For Week 17 of my 52 Weeks photo project, I broke out the old macro setup. In an effort to expand my shooting, I haven't been doing much macro, but after noticing some spiders in the area, I had to give it a shot. I was lucky enough to find this beautiful Banana Spider near Pusan National University in Busan, South Korea.


52 Weeks: Poise (Week 17 of 52) by TogaLive, on Flickr

 

[Bluffkin]

Love a lot of photos. I'll subscribe and keep updated! Looking forward to them. Week 8 Moonscape was my fav so far. Did you win the photo of the month with it?

 

[Austin Greene]

Love a lot of photos. I'll subscribe and keep updated! Looking forward to them. Week 8 Moonscape was my fav so far. Did you win the photo of the month with it?

Thanks! I'll keep the good work up if I have my way

Nope, but feel free to nominate new ones as they come up!

 

[Austin Greene]

Admittedly, I've fallen a bit behind on updating this thread for the past couple weeks. I've posted the photos elsewhere on these forums, but haven't updated this thread. Things have been crazy, I'm not quite used to hopping across the Pacific so much. Without any more delay, below are the new shots!

Week 18 of 52: Open Late

Open Late by TogaLive, on Flickr

Story:
I visited Jagalchi market again this evening in hopes of taking some portraits of the older folks that sell all the fish. I showed up right as places were closing (subway is fast, but I got off of work late), and even had a note a coworker wrote in Korea which said something akin to "I'm Austin, a photographer. May I take your photo please?" Well, I wasn't able to woo too many folks, and those I did, I simply didn't light correctly. Oh well, maybe next time. I wandered off in the general direction of the subway station. That is one nice thing of being completely alone in a foreign place, you can wander a bit. No one is looking for me. If something were to happen, no one would know for days or weeks. It's comforting in a way. It inspires adventure.


As I'm wandering through the closed up and now darkened dry fish market, I noticed a man sitting outside of his pet shop. More specifically, his bird shop. Not for food, we're talking tiny parrots, finches, and the like. I saw the shot I wanted, but as soon as I'm about to get the guts to take it, he goes inside. So there I am, knowing my shot is there. He even left his stool outside, so he's totally going to come back to it, right? I watch him, and see that he's taking a kettle of water and replenishing the water of all the birds inside, one cage at a time.


"Damn, this is going to take a while" were the words in my head.


So I wander. I walk through the barely lit and alleyways, the empty tables, piles of rope and trash, I chase a couple stray cats, and I watch the rats creep along in the shadows looking for scraps. When enough time passed, about 30 minutes, I walk back towards the shop from a different route, so I wouldn't walk past the man, but instead would come up right where I'd need to be to get my shot. Once I can see the shop lights, I meter the shot. I can't see him, just the tip of a window over the pile of rope I'm behind, but it's enough to meter off of. I know the light spilling out of the shop and hitting his stool is going to be the same. Once I'm ready I cross my fingers and step out from behind the rope. He's there. I quietly walk to within about 15 feet of him, right where I wanted and needed to be, I crouch down, and I take the shot.


It was everything I saw in my head, everything I wanted it to be, and as someone who doesn't "do" street photography, I was damn proud of myself.

 

[Austin Greene]

Week 19 of 52: Haeundae Lightshow

Haeundae Lightshow by TogaLive, on Flickr

Story:
Lightning rips through the sky and strikes a tower in Marine City, South Korea as a powerful monsoon approaches.


Taken handheld (Shutter speed 1/80) on 7/19/2014 from Dongbaek Island, South Korea.


After a month of research and photography, it was my last full day in Korea. To commemorate the trip, I decided to take an entire day to do nothing but take photos. I had spent 11 hours taking photos all across southern South Korea. Already having visited Dongbaek Island earlier in the day, something compelled me to return. So after walking along the beachside streets of Haeundae, I found myself back on Dongbaek Island, really more a peninsula of piers than an island. A subpar sunset left me a little disappointed, but I thought I'd stick around a couple extra minutes.


Then, it all started to fall into place. Thunder cracked in the distance as the clouds darkened. Fisherman nearby began to comment on light rain falling, and my mood instantly became electric. Something was happening. I hopped over a barrier into a construction zone on a nearby pier, as many of the fisherman had, pulled out my umbrella, and sat down at the water's edge. Next thing I know, lightning struck just to the right. Not having a tripod, I opted to still give it a shot, and set elbow to knee in a contorted kind of "human tripod" position.


CRACK! Another strike, closer this time. **** was happening.


I framed my shot, got my exposure settings as close as I could guess I'd need, and waited. Eye glued to the viewfinder, I nervously wiped my lens whenever the now torrent of rain found it's way past my umbrella.


What happened next was a blur. All I remember was a flash, a press of the shutter, and not realizing what had happened until an extra 3 or 4 frames had already fired off.


"I think I got it!" I said to the photographer to my left whom I'd just met (Nate, from Seattle, cool dude). I checked my memory card, and cried out when I saw this image. Next thing, I'm on my back yelling out "I GOT IT!!! YES!!! I GOT IT!" Needless to say, fisherman were giving me quite the look.


Shortly after, the torrent became a flood. Winds picked up, blowing plywood roofs off of makeshift structures fisherman had made from the nearby construction supplies. I packed my bags and headed home, soaked to the bone and with the biggest smile in Korea.

 

[Austin Greene]

Week 20 of 52: Above the Round Top

Above the Round Top by TogaLive, on Flickr

A photographer friend and I had a crazy, spur of the moment idea this week. We wanted to go into the Sierra's, and we wanted to do it at night.

So that is exactly what we did.

Armed with freshly cooked (or so we're told) fast food, we drove two hours East of Davis, CA towards Lake Tahoe. About 20 minutes out from the lake, we turned Southeast, heading towards Carson Pass. Passing meadows and rocky slopes in the twilight, the sun was long gone by the time we began our hike into the backcountry. About an hour and a half later, we reached our destination, a beautiful alpine lake. The milky way was out, albeit largely obscured by the nearby Round Top Mountain. Stars dotted the sky on the moonless night, and we began shooting.

Soon enough I realized that even by the bright starlight, there simply wasn't enough light to pick up any detail from the foreground or mountains around us. A little disgruntled, I set to using my flash. I have to admit I wasn't too happy with the photos, but it was a fantastic hike with great company. I hope to return soon on a night with a moon to do some moonscaping.

 

[Austin Greene]

Week 21 of 52: Land Before Time

Land Before Time by TogaLive, on Flickr

I'm now out at UC Davis' Bodega Marine Lab conducting research, and will be for the rest of summer. That means two things, lot's of photo opportunities doing long exposures of the coastline, and lot's a days when we're completely socced in with fog. All week I haven't seen clear skies, but I'm hoping to get a decent sunset in the next month or two I have out here. Last night I headed out looking for a photo, and ended up finding some great algae covered rocks. I loved their texture, but maybe a bit too much. My decision to focus largely on them left the background too blurry for my own tastes. That said, I'm excited at what the coming weeks will yield photographically!

 

[Austin Greene]

Week 22 of 52: Jaws of The Sea

52 Weeks: Jaws of The Sea (Week 22 of 52) by TogaLive, on Flickr

Jagged boulders shred incoming waves and guard the sea along California's Lost Coast.


For Week 22 of my 52 Weeks photo project, I wanted to do something special. For the first time, I ventured out to a truly remote portion of the coast, alone. The trail down required the use of ropes, and the cove was completely abandoned upon my arrival. Typically used by locals as an private spot during abalone diving season, the cove features a towering spire some 100+ feet tall, and jagged boulders on the seaward side of a small peninsula. I spent several hours clambering over car-sized monoliths, watching the incoming waves crash against unrelenting spires of granite. I found my shot, and sat back, waiting for blue hour, when the North Coast really shows off it's ability to turn entire landscapes violet and blue. An uneventful sunset passed, and then the moment came during blue hour. Perching on a boulder, I snapped away, waiting for just the right wave action between the boulders.


This week's photo doesn't demonstrate a new technique, but it does demonstrate a milestone in my photographic journey. For the first time, I've truly ventured out on my own, taking risks all for the sake of a photo. It was an opportunity to check myself, to check my dedication to photography, to see how far I'd go. I found nothing that day that could stand between me and a photo, which is a truly invigorating feeling.

 

[Austin Greene]

P.S: If anyone has comments at this point of the project, I'd appreciate them. Any critiques, or things that you'd suggest or like to see changed, or even things you've enjoyed thus far.

Hope you like the photos! The project has been a great way of keeping me shooting on a regular basis.

 

[D-B-J]

I've been keeping up with your posts, and really love what you've been doing. Great photos, and always an interesting blurb about each and why it's special to you. I especially like the most recent--I find myself on those adventures from time to time, where I'll do anything to get the shot.

 

[Austin Greene]

I've been keeping up with your posts, and really love what you've been doing. Great photos, and always an interesting blurb about each and why it's special to you. I especially like the most recent--I find myself on those adventures from time to time, where I'll do anything to get the shot.

Thanks man, it means a lot coming from you, someone who's in a similar stage of life. I'm hoping to run into more and more of those adventures that put us in situations like that, it seems that's what it's all about.

Onwards!